Famously Owned

A piece of Hugh Hefner's personally owned monopoly money.

About the Collection

This selection of artifacts features pieces owned by celebrities, politicians, and other historical figures. The artifacts exhibited were once the personal belongings of some of the most famous and historically significant people in the world. Please note that this exhibit is a work in progress and will be updated as new artifacts from notable figures are acquired.

Athletes

Joe DiMaggio

Joe DiMaggio kissing his bat in 1941. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Joe DiMaggio lived a long and fascinating life. Not only was he a Hall of Fame baseball player who, during his time playing for the New York Yankees, had a 56 game hitting streak, but he was also married briefly to the 1950s icon Marilyn Monroe. Throughout his career, he gained the nicknames "Joltin' Joe" and the "Yankee Clipper," and he was even the spokesman for Mr. Coffee. He passed away in 1999 at the ripe old age of 84. After his passing, a large number of his personal belongings were sold at auction by his granddaughters Paula DiMaggio Hamra and Kathie DiMaggio Stein through Hunt Auctions. The pieces in the museum collection were part of that auction.

Provenance:

Ex. Wisconsin-based sports memorabilia dealer who acquired the selection featured below at Hunt Auction as part of lot 639. These items as stated previously were sold through Hunt by DiMaggio's granddaughters Paula DiMaggio Hamra and Kathie DiMaggio Stein. He split up the lot and sold portions of it online. One of the portions was acquired by the museum.

Joe DiMaggio's Robert Burns cigarillo box.

Joe's glass star-shaped ashtray.

Two photographs, possibly family photos. One is a baby photo while the other shows a scene in Panama City, Florida in 1906. It features text on the back that reads, "Central Plaza, Panama City, 1906."

Neil Armstrong and Dick Allen's business cards.

An envelope feturing a stamped signature of Joe DiMaggio used as part of his stationary.

Reprint of a Safe Hit Texas Vegetables label.

Entrepreneurs

Hugh Hefner

Hugh Hefner at the premiere of the Sylvester Stalone film F.I.S.T. in 1978. Image courtesy of Flickr user Alan Light.

When people think about Playboy magazine, they think of Hugh Hefner. The brilliant magazine publisher turned sexual icon who produced one of the most famous or infamous magazines of a generation as well as one of the faces of the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Playboy would spawn numerous Playboy Clubs, the Playboy Mansion, and plenty of knick-knacks, and to this day it isn't hard to find people wearing shirts and hoodies with the iconic Playboy Bunny on them.

The museum was able to acquire a few pieces of Hugh Hefner's personally owned Monopoly money. Hefner was a huge fan of the iconic board game and he had his own custom Monopoly table and set made featuring custom pieces and of course money. On the obverse of the money is a portrait of Hefner flanked by two seals, one depicting the Playboy Bunny and the other depicting a Monopoly-style depiction of a train and house. The reverse depicts the two Playboy Mansions with the left image featuring the iconic Los Angeles mansion with the image on the right depicting the lesser-known original Playboy mansion in Chicago. The bills in the museum collection are a tan $100 bill and an orange $300 bill.

Provenance

Ex. Sportscards.com who purchased a selection of Hefner's monopoly money from Julien's Auction. The pieces were sold after Hefner's passing in 2017.

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